


The Protector of Mantle

by MamanSofia



Category: RWBY
Genre: Also my admin pushed me to this, Angst, Character Death, F/F, Gods PLEASE, I want to hurt so I wrote this, Nuts and Dolts - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-18 20:49:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29739693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MamanSofia/pseuds/MamanSofia
Summary: What I think could happen in Episode 11
Relationships: Penny Polendina/Ruby Rose
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16





	The Protector of Mantle

Penny was tired. Her dress was scorched, and matted with dried green “blood” her body was aching in ways that brought back hints of a memory she didn’t want coming back. She could feel the wires pulling by a will not her own, and the hint of a bladed edge tickled her body sending shivers down her spine.

Maybe it was always her duty to perish, but this time she’d do it on her own accord. The bomb was in front of them, soft red light blinking as numbers ticked back ignorant to their emotions, and she could see her friends just in front of it, resigned, tired, and looking painfully defeated, but more importantly there was Ruby. Her first friend, and oh so important to her on her knees, hands fisted into tight balls, and her silver eyes damp. It was that sight that solidified her idea. She could feel the steps as she brushed past Winter, and all she could think of was how she wished her last conversation with her father hadn’t ended the way it had.

Hopefully Maria would be there for him, and she dearly hoped he would move past this once again because she truly doubted she was coming back this time.

“Penny, what are you doing?” Ruby’s worried tone was like buckshot. Loudly echoing in the following silence of her heart as her stomach dropped and she stopped to look back at her.

“There is no other way Ruby.” Her voice sounded worn, and she didn’t know if it was from the strange feeling earlier in the mansion, or if it was her own desperation at the situation they were in.

“I am the protector of Mantle, and it’s my duty to protect them. No matter the cost of myself.” Her voice was soft but firm, but it didn't seem to deter her dear friend from stepping towards her as the bomb ticked away behind them. 

“There has to be another way! You don't have to do this!” Her voice was loud, and pleading as the tears finally fell from her eyes, and Penny bowed her head as her heart finally imploded in chest.

“I'm sorry Ruby, but there isn’t another way! It’s either this, or we all go and I can’t let you get hurt!” 

“But you don’t have to die again!” Her shout was desperate and filled with a familiar grief and Penny remembered that Ruby had watched her die the first time.

“I’m so sorry Ruby. I can’t lose you even if it means losing myself”

It was all she could say as the winds picked up around them, and she used her magic to lift the bomb into the air, and pushed it higher trying her best to ignore the sounds of sobs below her as her boosters took it higher, and higher into the air; past Atlas and she could feel the air start to thin as the bomb next to her let out a small chirp happily reading  _ 0:05 _ and counting.

Penny didn’t let that stop her though instead she turned her thoughts to Ruby.

Their first meeting and the jubilation at someone finally being her friend.

The fear she’d had to hide when Ruby had seen her torn hand exposing the metal underneath, and the feeling of elation as she told her she was real, and that was when she felt her heart skip a beat for the first time.

The fading view of a heartbroken Ruby before her vision faded to black and her father was before her again, and all she could think about was comforting her first friend-telling her that she wasn’t dead, and they could go to the bakery Ruby had told her about.

She focused on the way those eyes lit up at every new thing she took in, and the feel of her pale callous hands fitting into her own synthetic feeling  _ right _ , and how she hadn’t wanted to let go, and more importantly she focused on the feelings that had boarded past friendship and what her research had told had once been a small crush before involving into a full blossoming love that she had never wanted to break. 

If Penny had one regret it was that she’d never got to tell Ruby as the world around her lit up into an explosion of fiery light and a heat that seared into her very being it was that she’d wished she had told her.

_ “I love you _ ” 


End file.
